GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

phorbin · 28-04-2008, 04:21 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible

In article ,
says...
In article ,
phorbin wrote:

The thing you need to know is that they are
agile climbers and will climb trees, fences etc.. You have to deal with
"over" which means creating a floppy fence or an electric one.

There is a way that wildlife rescue taught me to prevent pests and
predators from climbing a fence. About 1 ft. or so up the fence, attach
a 12" wide strip of roof flashing to the fence. They hit that and slip.

Works well to keep raccoons out of poultry yards and it not unattractive.

It can also keep squirrels out of fruit trees (wrap it around the trunk)
so long as the squirrel cannot jump into that tree from another location.

Now that's a good idea. It never occurred to me to apply that one
anywhere but on posts and trees.

I had 1 raccoon shinny up 3' of sheet steel wrapped 2x4 post to get to
the roof so I put a bit of vaseline up the corners of the steel and that
did the trick. There were nightly thuds and swearing for awhile as
raccoons tried and failed.

Does it really work on raccoons, and groundhogs at the height you
suggest? Raccoons around here at full growth are the size of a small
child and can easily stretch beyond that distance... and an adult
groundhog is not a small critter too.

Is groundhog edible? ;-)

I've never eaten it. I've heard that it is. I do believe in having an
enemy for dinner.

I might try if it were in a woodland/meadow environment or some other
organic situation and I knew more about dressing and preparing it and
telling if the beast is healthy. In this city at this time, with people
flinging herbicides and pesticides about, I wouldn't eat any animal I
didn't raise.